


down the wrong path i trod

by FrozenHearts



Series: Death Stranding/Horizon: Zero Dawn Shared Universe [2]
Category: Death Stranding (Video Games), Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universes, BT - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Clones, F/M, Falling In Love, Faro Industries, Gen, Homo Demons, Human Experimentation, Implied Sexual Content, Mentioned Sam (Death Stranding), Miscarriage, Pre-Canon, Pre-Death Stranding, Protectiveness, Romance, Science, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Secret Relationship, Secret family, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Time Fall, Time Travel, hidden identities, stasis pods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 10:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19018258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenHearts/pseuds/FrozenHearts
Summary: It seemed inevitable that they would have to give up their childHe said he wanted to name the baby Aloy.





	down the wrong path i trod

**Author's Note:**

> with my first hzd/death stranding piece it was all speculation but with today's trailer i decided to make a horizon zero dawn/death stranding shared universe! I hope you enjoy this piece too!
> 
> I realize i probably should have put this into multiple chapters but oh well. Enjoy!

The Time Fall that Cliff bought back with him from the other side was what sparked Ted Faro's idea to create Faro Industries. With the world being what it was- dying flora and fauna, smog and pollution, countless wars to appease no one in particular- Ted had deigned to create a race of machines that would repopulate the world. Redistribute pollen and help plant trees. Animatic animals with enough sentience to repopulate themselves, and all of it would start right here.

Ted Faro often described the human race as god-like in a few meetings enough that many had just skipped altogether or joked that Faro was going insane. Elisabet met Cliff the day he returned to the labs with the Time Fall, and this discovery was only going to fuel Faro's craze.

"This is revolutionary..." Ted breathed in awe as the three of them sat in a stark white lab, unlike those of the usual Faro Industry design. The lights were too bright and made Elisabet's head ache but she sat and watched anyway, as Cliff rolled up his sleeves to reveal well toned arms, as he bent over his desk to pick up his specimen oh-so-carefully and there was a sliver of skin revealed from a bunched up shirt and-

"Dr. Sobeck?" a thick Danish accent made her pick up her head and she found herself staring into a pair of heavy-lidded hazel eyes. She blinked, noticing how the corners of his eyes wrinkled when he gave her a small smile.

"I'm...sorry," Elisabet said, "I must have dozed off for a second there. Please, continue."

She ignored Faro's raised eyebrow as Cliff nodded, moving back to his work station. On the desk sat a clear vial, almost like a graduated cylinder of what Elisabet could only describe as some sort of black goo, wriggling and floating in the glass. Next to that looked like a pod, with yellowed glass and straps around the back. There was a port in the front of the glass however, a large black hole in the sun.

Looking at it made her feel like she was getting sucked into something; shaking the feeling away, she realized Cliff was speaking now, picking up the cylinder and presenting it to Ted.

"I call it Time Fall," Cliff explained, "Unknown origin, I discovered it on the coasts of Delaware, United States."

Ted nodded, "What are it's properties?"

Cliff made a gesture, "I believe it to contain some natural elements- carbon, oxygen. The general compounds you may find on Earth or in the atmosphere."

Elisabet was surprised to find herself speak up, "On Earth?"

Cliff smiled again, "Correct."

She looked at it, as Ted held the cylinder. It looked almost like plasma, sliding and jiggling like a lava lamp, but there was a certain shine to it, almost like an oil slick and for a minute it reminded her of the energy put into the GAIA project, the fossil fuels her machines would wipe out- what would this do? This Time Fall? Would it speed up the process? Reverse all her hard work? What about the long term effects? Immediate, even, if she considered mixing it with her own formulas. Cliff watched as Ted turned the vial over in his palm.

"Why Time Fall?" Ted finally said, "Why that name? No scientific one?"

"I can name my discoveries how I choose, no?" Cliff dared to tease and Elisabet hid a chuckle behind her hand as he sent her a wink.

\----

She didn't see Cliff until her lunch break later that day. The cafeteria was a lonelier place than she realized, the women and men serving the food being generally ignored, other engineers and chemists and scientists opting to work from their labs and eat by themselves due to the innovation of the Focus. Calling, emails, texting, the Focus could do everything and even though Elisabet was proud of her invention, she knew it wasn't the most practical in terms of social evolution or a replacement for physical human interaction. Elisabet stared blankly at her tray- a brown mush of what was probably supposed to be some form of meatloaf, an apple and a small carton of orange juice.

"How appealing."

"Cliff?" Elisabet smirked, "I see Dr. Faro hasn't kidnapped you yet."

Cliff grunted, "Your boss is way too into his work. Dr. Sobeck."

"Please, call me Elisabet," Elisabet blurted, feeling her cheeks heat up.

"Well, Elisabet, Dr. Faro is something of a madman," Cliff was eyeing her tray. "Are you going to eat that?"

Shaking her head, Elisabet shoved the tray across the table towards him, watching curiously as he picked up the fork and speared a piece of psuedo-meatloaf quite harshly. It didn't break as meatloaf should, and from where he cut it was a rush of yellow-brown fluids. She resisted the urge to gag as he put it in his mouth, moaning like he was experiencing the second coming of Christ and not eating fake food in a hyper-clean cafeteria in a scientific facility.

"That good, huh?" Elisabet said.

Cliff shrugged, "In my country, food is a delicacy. Seeing you people waste as you do.... sorry. Thank you, though."

It didn't strike Elisabet as odd at the time, just like the Time Fall. Plenty of countries were less opportunistic than America, often considered third-world and rampaged by war. Cliff grew quiet as he took another bite, and Elisabet just watched. His face was full of lines; small wrinkles and scars here and there and there was scruff on his chin from what looked like a botched shaving job. She felt oddly light, as she sat with him, watching him eat her fake meatloaf and drink her tiny orange juice.

At the time, Elisabet thought this was perfect. And then Ted Faro came running into the cafeteria, brown hair wild and glasses askew as he was yelling for her.

"Dr. Sobeck! There's been a problem with the APOLLO servos again, I need you to-"

Heaving a sigh, Elisabet stood up, wincing at the loud screech of her chair against the linoleum floor. Cliff stopped mid-chew, his head lifting with her body and for a second, Elisabet wanted to laugh. He looked like a puppy who's owner was leaving the house, begging them to stay and play fetch or take them on a walk. They locked eyes for a moment and Elisabet felt.... something.

Whatever it was was gone as soon as it had come as Ted snapped his fingers in front of her nose, making her go cross-eyed, "Dr. Sobeck! Now, if you can."

"It was good seeing you again, Dr. Sobeck," Cliff nodded, turning back to the food.

She didn't correct him as she followed Ted out of the cafeteria.

\----

Months passed. Elisabet forgot about his comment, about his country. After fixing the APOLLO servos that day, it simply slipped her mind. AS an engineer and head of the department regarding the GAIA and HADES systems, Elisabet was swamped with work. Ted was getting more demanding, rewriting and re-scripting masses of code that took years to build, throwing out test robotics left and right because it "wasn't fitting the demographic."

Whatever that meant. Elisabet was growing tired, the bags heavy under her eyes, but she did her best to keep up with Ted and his ongoing vision of the future. Cliff was there from time to time, although Ted saw fit to leave the man be. He was still tinkering away alongside Faro Industries, but she didn't think Cliff's project held any bearing on her own.

Cliff had brought a bow of food to share for lunch when the comment she forgot about came up once more.

"You think I am not American," was all he said.

"What?"

"All those months ago," Cliff slurped a noodle noisily between his lips. Flecks of broth flew in her direction, some of it landing on the table. Some of it managed to cling to his chin, which Elisabet realized now was clean-shaven. "When I mentioned food being a rarity."

Elisabet pursed her lips, "Right. That. I never said you weren't American."

"Ah, but you never claimed I was, either," Cliff said, "the accent doesn't help, but I'll let that slide."

Elisabet put her fork down, "I'm sure Ted doesn't mind anyway. He hired you to begin with, that means you know what you're doing."

Cliff made a noise and jabbed his fork back in the bowl. His nose was scrunched and his hair was flecked with white. It wasn't terribly long, slicked back with gel and Elisabet felt her mouth water for more than noodles. Well.... that was unexpected, she mused, lusting over a coworker, it was unprofessional in any capacity and as they sat there sharing a bowl of noodles, she realized she didn't care.

"I wish I did, Elisabet," Cliff's voice came out as an almost whisper, "I wish I did."

Before she knew it, she was kissing him, the bowl of noodles sitting unforgotten until they grew cold.

\----

It seemed inevitable that they would have to give up their child.

Ted figured out something was going on between them well past the six month of her pregnancy, which was rather funny; such a smart man missing the obvious signs of Elisabet's relationship with Cliff until they were scandalously having a baby out of wedlock. It didn't hinder their work otherwise, as Elisabet originally thought it would. She still ran the Engineering department and watched Cliff experimenting with his Time Fall and endured Ted and his insufferable meetings. She'd taken to blocking him out, however, as he ranted about terraforming and the new world- all things she had spoken about, everything she already knew.

Her notepad from the meeting was full of possible names for the baby, all written in neat block letters in the margin of the pages. Most were girls names she liked; Esther or Athena were her top two picks. She didn't have anything picked out if the baby was a boy, but she didn't care. This baby would be part of something great, no matter what.

"If you get any bigger I might put you on desk duty, Elisabet," Ted warned her after a meeting.

"You wouldn't dare," Elisabet grinned, "I know I'm big, but I can still work."

 "Six months pregnant, Elisabet," Ted reminded her, "Cliff better be able to keep up."

Elisabet laughed, placing a hand on her swollen belly. She could feel the warmth radiating from her stretched out skin, the rough kicks as the baby moved.

Ted was saying something else now, but Elisabet ignored him, nodding idly as she focused on each kick and punch the baby gave. They were strong, some enough to make her wobble where she stood. Maybe, she thought, we can name her something meaning strength.

With the way the world was going, the kid would have to be tough to survive in it. 

"-rom Cliff, maybe we can infuse it with the MINERVA or GAIA programs!" Elisabet caught the tail end of Ted's words. 

"What?" she blinked.

Ted was smiling now, a wide smile that made it look like vis head would split in two. It was a bit unnerving, especialky when Ted was bathed in the purple-pink glow of the overhead lights, casting eerie shadows along the conference table and making her skin crawl.

"Your child," Ted said plainly, "is new life. GAIA was created to do just that, and with Cliff's research on his Time Fall stuff-"

Elisabet didn't even give him a response, instead stalking out if the conference room, pain jolting in her ankles with each step. 

Ted thankfully didn't follow her.

\------

The child was stillborn, a month later. 

Cliff had gone off on a research mission when it happened, leaving Elisabet alone in the hospital, alone with the doctors with their too cold utensils and the nurses with the too sympathetic eyes as they let her cradle her dead child for a few minutes before taking her away.

Cliff came back the day after, a little worse for wear as he barged into the hospital room shouting, "Elisabet! Elisabet, I'm here!"

"Sir-!" one of the nurses took Cliff by the shoulders, "Sir, we need you to calm down-!"

Cliff looked so happy, his face lit up but Elisabet couldn't do it.

She couldn't tell him. 

He told her he wanted to name the baby Aloy.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to write more in these universes but I may have to replay horizon zero dawn again just because my knowledge of the lore is very rusty


End file.
